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Is a "Democracy" That's For Sale Still a Democracy? No, It's an Oligarchy March 27, 2026
To claim that jostling for the biggest share of federal power and largesse--in a word, greed--magically serves the common good is a convenient cover for an oligarchy masquerading as a "democracy."
Is a "democracy" that's for sale still a democracy, or is it something else? The question arises from the nature of our political system, whatever you wish to call it: it is an auction for political favors / influence in which the highest bidder wins--as in any auction. "The will of the people" is a useful artifice. Those who collect the largest war chests of cash win elections because they buy visibility via marketing and adverts--just like selling detergent or "the latest innovation." The belief at the bottom of this debased version of "democracy" is that everyone scrambling to maximize their own interests in a free-for-all of advocacy magically generates policies that serve the common good. In other words, if everyone jostling for power gets their slice of federal largesse, then that is identical to serving the common good. But this is false: a state that is nothing more than a highest-bidder-wins distributor of subsidies and favors cannot possibly serve the common good, as the common good is not just the sum total of private interests. President Jimmy Carter described this succinctly: "The national interest is not always the sum of our single or special interests. We must not forget that the common good is our common interest and our individual responsibility." We have become accustomed to thinking of "democracy" as nothing more than self-interested hogs jostling at the feeding trough of federal favors and largesse. In an oligarchy masquerading as a "democracy," this distribution reflects 1) the need to avoid inequalities extreme enough to trigger revolt and 2) the need to cloak the fact that the vast majority of political influence is "owned" (bought and paid for) by the top 0.1%. So the bottom 40% get their share of subsidies, the middle class gets its share of subsidies, the top 10% get their share of subsidies and then the top 0.1% retain the real power and wealth to serve their own interests. In a functional democracy--as opposed to a hogs-at-the-trough auction of favors--the social order is an interconnected ecosystem of: 1) the social contract, 2) civic virtue, 3) shared purpose, 4) shared sacrifice, 5) moral legitimacy, 6) social trust, 7) membership, and 8) social cohesion, the glue that binds society in times of hardship or crisis. Absent social cohesion, society disintegrates. The social contract is the set of implicit expectations and obligations people consider their birthright. Civic virtues are the set of standards that serve both private interests and the common good: agency, accountability, integrity, transparency, civic duty, honor, and simplicity, which includes being disciplined, generous, forthright and frugal. Shared purpose includes national purpose. Pursuing shared purpose demands sacrifice and the sublimation of private gain. Shared sacrifice is the distribution of necessary sacrifices across the entire spectrum of the social order, from the highest to the humblest. To contribute is to be valued, and this is the core of social cohesion. Moral legitimacy is akin to what the Chinese call the Mandate of Heaven: Heaven and Earth are bound in a moral universe, and when society's leaders forfeit civic virtues in favor of debauchery and private gain, moral legitimacy dissolves and the Mandate of Heaven is lost. Social Trust is the sum of individuals' trust in institutions and fellow citizens to follow the social norms. When institutions fail to serve the populace by becoming sandboxes of privilege and self-service, social trust erodes. Membership is the genetically coded glue of social cohesion. When our contribution is valued, we're valued, and contributing to shared interests qualifies us for membership. Having our membership revoked--being shunned or cast out--is a painful punishment. Social cohesion is the sum of all these binding forces, the sense that contributing and belonging are worth the effort and sacrifice. If the lower classes are being sacrificed to maximize the private gains of the upper class, social cohesion is lost. The debauched, debased system we inhabit is no longer able to serve common interests or the common good. It is a dysfunctional simulation of a true democracy which must directly serve common interests by sublimating private gain to the common good. To claim that jostling for the biggest share of federal power and largesse--in a word, greed--magically serves the common good is a convenient cover for an oligarchy masquerading as a "democracy" because the peasants get to vote on which branch of the self-serving elites had the most effective ad campaign this time around. This artifice eventually wears thin because the glorification of self-interest erodes social cohesion and moral legitimacy. The awakening from our greed-induced trance will be, well, as interesting as it is inevitable. 
This essay was drawn from my book Investing In Revolution. My book Investing In Revolution is available at a 10% discount ($18 for the paperback, $24 for the hardcover and $8.95 for the ebook edition). Introduction (free) Check out my updated Books and Films. Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com Subscribe to my Substack for free My recent books: Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases originated via links to Amazon products on this site. THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY: Investing In Revolution Ultra-Processed Life The Mythology of Progress Systemic Problems/Solutions Investing In Revolution (2025) Introduction (free) The Mythology of Progress (2024) Introduction (free) Global Crisis, National Renewal (2021) Introduction (free) Money and Work Unchained (2017) Introduction (free) A Radically Beneficial World (2015) Introduction (free) What You Can Do Yourself Ultra-Processed Life (2025) Introduction (free) Self-Reliance in the 21st Century (2022) Introduction (free) When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal (2022) Introduction (free) Get a Job, Build a Real Career and Defy a Bewildering Economy (2014) Intro (free) Novels The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher Intro (free) The Secret Life of an Asian Heroine First chapters (free) Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Subscribe to my Substack for free Investing In Revolution print $18, (Kindle $8.95, Hardcover $24 (145 pages, 2025) 
Only now do we see that we've been investing in revolution for decades--not the revolutions we thought we were investing in, revolutions in technology and finance, but in the social revolution made inevitable by the extremes that we've reached in our single-minded pursuit of private gains.
The pendulum that we've pushed to an extreme will swing to the opposite extreme, and the artifices that have propped up a facade a stability for decades will accelerate the disorder rather than reverse it. We now stand at the point of decision, and this book offers a path to a reformation and renewal that serves the shared interests of us all, not just the few. Introduction (free) Ultra-Processed Life print $16, (Kindle $7.95, audiobook, Hardcover $20 (129 pages, 2025) 
Ultra-Processed Life: the substitution of a synthetic, commoditized, very profitable facsimile for what was once authentic.
Ultra-Processed Life is my term for everything that is analogous to ultra-processed snacks: attractively marketed, instantly alluring, easy to consume, addictive by design, tasty in the moment but harmful over time, its origins a black box of unknown processes, the brightly colored product bearing no resemblance to the real-world ingredients, an idealized form of what is inherently imperfect, untethered from the natural world. As with many others, the catalyst for my exploration was a life-threatening medical crisis that did not have a specific cause. This led me to wonder if our entire way of life is like an ultra-processed snack: tasty but not healthy, edible but stripped of the nutrients we need to be healthy, addictive by design. Introduction (free) The Mythology of Progress, Anti-Progress and a Mythology for the 21st Century print $20, (Kindle $9.95, Hardcover $24 (215 pages, 2024) audiobook, Read the Introduction and first chapter for free (PDF) 
What if the policies to accelerate growth are no longer working because our fix for every problem--growth at any cost--is failing? We're told Progress is inevitable as a result of technology, but everyday life is getting harder, not easier--the opposite of Progress, what I call Anti-Progress.
What if the real source of the unraveling is far deeper than economics or politics? What if the problem is what we see as the inevitable destiny of humanity--Progress--is actually a modern mythology, disconnected from the real-world consequences of growth for growth's sake? We indignantly reject that Progress is a mythology, but our need for mythology hasn't gone away because we've mastered technology; we've created a modern mythology of technology that is heedless of its own consequences. To truly progress, we need a new mythology aligned to 21st century realities. Read the Introduction and first chapter for free
Recent entries: Is a "Democracy" That's For Sale Still a Democracy? No, It's an Oligarchy March 27, 2026 The Illusion of the Shortcut (Self-Employment Series) March 25, 2026 The AI Depression March 24, 2026 Risk and Privilege March 23, 2026 Welcome to the Stockyard of Unaffordability March 20, 2026 Why Credit Creates Bubbles That Break the Economy March 18, 2026 Why AI Malware (and Harmful Second Order Effects) Are Out of Control March 16, 2026 This Polycrisis Is Unique March 13, 2026 Paging Nostradamus: You Have a Margin Call March 11, 2026 Iran, En-Lai, Napoleon, Mike Tyson and Model Collapse March 9, 2026 Perverse Incentives Have Created a Runaway Media Monster March 6, 2026 Things Change March 3, 2026
The War
March 1, 2026
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Extra-Special Bonus Aphorisms:
"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." (Douglas MacArthur) "We are what we repeatedly do." (Aristotle) "Do the thing and you shall have the power." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." (E.F. Schumacher, via Tom R.) "He who will not risk cannot win." (John Paul Jones) "When we drink coffee, ideas march in like the army." (Honore de Balzac) "Progress is not possible without deviation." (Frank Zappa, via Richard Metzger) "Victory favors those who take pains." (amat victoria curam) "The man who has a garden and a library has everything." (Cicero, via Lee Bentley) "A healthy homecooked family meal and a home garden are revolutionary acts." (CHS) "Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything." (Napoleon Bonaparte) "The way of the Tao is reversal" Or "Reversal is the movement of Tao." (Lao Tzu) "Chance favours the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur) "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Winston Churchill) "Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasures." (Rumi) "The realm of gratitude is boundless." (CHS, 11/25/15) "History doesn't have a reverse gear." (CHS, 12/22/15) Smith's Law of Conservation of Risk: Every sustained action has more than one consequence. Some consequences will appear positive for a time before revealing their destructive nature. Some consequences will be intended, some will not. Some will be foreseeable, some will not. Some will be controllable, some will not. Those that are unforeseen and uncontrollable will trigger waves of other unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences. (July 8, 2014)(thanks to Lew G. for retitling the idea.) Smith's Neofeudalism Principle #1: If the citizenry cannot replace a kleptocratic authoritarian government and/or limit the power of the financial Aristocracy at the ballot box, the nation is a democracy in name only. The Smith Corollary to Metcalfe's Law (The Network Effect): the value of the network is created not just by the number of connected devices/users but by the value of the information and knowledge shared by users in sub-networks and in the entire network. (CHS, 4/6/16) My Credo of Liberation: I no longer care if the power centers of our society--the distant, fortified castles of our financial feudal system--are changed by my actions, for I am liberated by the act of resistance. I am no longer complicit in perpetuating fraudulent feudalism and the pathology of concentrated power. I no longer covet signifiers of membership in the Upper Caste that serves the plutocracy. I am liberated from self-destructive consumerist-State financialization and the delusion that debt servitude and obedience to sociopathological Elites serve my self-interests. (Thank you, Klaus-Peter L., for reminding me) "We've become a culture of excuses rather than solutions: solutions always require sustained effort and discipline." (CHS 4/9/16) "Fraud as a way of life caters an extravagant banquet of consequences." (CHS 4/14/16) "Creativity = problem solving = value creation." (CHS 6/4/16) "Truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems." (CHS 7/21/17) "We live in a system of human emotions that masquerades as a science (economics)." (CHS 1/1/18) "Always remember, your focus determines your reality." (George Lucas) "Diversity is for poor people. Sameness is for the successful." (GFB) "When power dissipates suddenly, it dissipates completely." (CHS 7/14/19) "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." (Henry David Thoreau) "Markets cannot price in the value of non-monetized natural assets such as diverse ecosystems." (CHS 7/14/19) "Magical thinking isn't optimism, it is folly." CHS 1/3/22) "Tune in (to self-reliance), drop out (of hyper-consumerism and debt-serfdom) and turn on (to relocalizing capital and agency)." (CHS 1/5/22) "The path to everything you desire starts here: like yourself as you are right now." (CHS 11/20/22) "There are only two signals: how many essentials you produce and share and if you're consuming less with better results. Everything else is noise." (CHS 12/17/22) "Liberation is no longer needing any confirmation or feedback from others or the world for one's sense of self. Wealth, fame, recognition, admiration, praise, prestige, approval, sainthood, martyrdom, success: none are needed, none are desired." (CHS 12/26/22) "When fame, wealth, prestige, status and glory are out of reach, you're free to pursue other more valuable things." (CHS 2/6/22) "It is the sacred duty of every activist who seeks to better their community to grow and share as much life-giving food as is humanly possible." (CHS 6/15/23) "Being anonymous, gray and unknown is the ideal state of freedom." (CHS 3/15/24) "We seem to have entered a world of anti-leisure and anti-productivity in which the unpaid shadow work demanded to keep all the complicated digital bits in motion obliterate our leisure and productivity." CHS (5/22/24) "It is axiomatic that failing systems work the best just before they fail catastrophically." Ray W. "Looking younger is mere technique; thinking younger demands creativity." CHS (10/16/24) "Tell me what's taboo and I'll tell you the truths that threaten the status quo." CHS (12/15/24) "This is the core of the Attention Economy: the ultimate addiction is the addiction to ourselves." CHS (1/28/25) "If You Seek the Truth, Look for What's Taboo." CHS (7/18/25) "My definition of self-reliance: the less you need, the easier it is to get what you need." CHS (7/26/25) "Mastery requires reading and doing." CHS (7/28/25) "The replacement of authentic value, quality, agency, choice, trust, legitimacy and experience with self-serving facsimiles is the key dynamic of Ultra-Processed Life, my term for the present-day human condition." CHS (8/12/25) "Ultra-Processed Life replaces an authentic experience with a synthetic, simulated, commoditized, highly profitable version that's superficially attractive but destructive over the long term." CHS (8/12/25) "What we see everywhere is the replacement of authentic things--including democracy--with synthetic facsimiles designed to maintain the illusion of choice and value." CHS (8/12/25) "Sometimes certainty is the enemy we don't even see and uncertainty is our most faithful ally." CHS (9/20/25) |
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